Sasol to restart S Africa AA plant in October after maintenance

HOUSTON (ICIS)--Sasol will restart its acrylic acid (AA) plant in Sasolburg, South Africa, in early October following its current 40-day maintenance turnaround, a company source said on Thursday.

The 80,000 tonne/year plant was taken down in late August for a planned catalyst change.

The source said soft conditions and inventory build ahead of the turnaround would ensure little to no market impact from the outage.

“We built up supply in advance, and with soft demand, it’s an event," the source said, "but a non-event as far as the supply chain and our customers are concerned.”

Sasol also operates at the site an 80,000 tonne/year butyl acrylate (butyl-A) plant and a 35,000 tonne/year ethyl acrylate (ethyl-A) plant. Those plants will run off stored AA inventory, the company said.

In related production news, Dow Chemical’s complex in Taft, Louisiana, recently resumed operation following Hurricane Isaac, the company said this week. The plant makes acrylic acid among many other chemicals.

US August acrylic acid prices are $1.09-1.13/lb ($2,403-2,491/tonne, €1,874-1,943/tonne), as assessed by ICIS and are likely to settle flat for September on soft market conditions.